Betty Jane Cornett Seasonal Batting Record

Profile Biography

Betty Jane (always insisted on the "Jane" being included), was a"Tom-boy" from early on. She'd rather play ball, ride bikes, roller skate, or swim during summer months, and in wintertime, it was ice skating, sled riding and indoor basket ball. Everyone in the neighborhoods of Springhill, Spring Garden and Troy Hill knew her as the girl who could REALLY play ball! She played better than any of our five older brothers!

She loved to dance, sing (we used to harmonize together), and we often doubled dated, being there was less than two years difference in our ages, as sisters.

She received the nickname, "Curly" when she arrived at training camp. Though she had set her hair in bobby-pins to look nice, the rain undid it all and you know how girls can be in their teens, when they saw her drooping hair, they facetiously called her "Curly" and that name stuck for the rest of her life!

An enlarged copy of Ms. Cornett's baseball card is featured at the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, and a second-floor display still holds her mitt, hat and cleats.

"She was so thrilled to see [the museum display]," Ms. Carr said. "We have a photo of Betty Jane in her wheelchair next to her big, enlarged baseball card."

She has kept in touch with so many of her former ball playing friends, all these many years. I traveled with her to several reunions and was the photographer and video-tographer for her and the other girls from near-by areas, such as "Smokey" Mandella, Norma Dearfield, and Sarah Jane "Salty" Ferguson. We attended the local preview of "ALeague of Their Own," an autograph session at Slippery Rock College, and the opening of "The Senator John Heinz Sports Museum" in November 2004.